RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Discussions on using the professional data recovery program R-STUDIO for RAID re-construction, NAS recovery, and recovery of various disk and volume managers: Windows storage spaces, Apple volumes, and Linux Logical Volume Manager.
Alt
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Alt » Fri May 10, 2013 8:30 am

An addition: you have to create a virtual RAID from the images rather than the original drives. The drives should be kept in a safe place until all the effort is over.

Ben01
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Fri May 10, 2013 8:58 am

Thank you - that makes it clear to me...

I'll come back to you when I've got all that sorted out.

Many thanks
Ben

Ben01
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Fri May 24, 2013 3:38 am

Hi Alt

So...I've got the the point of completing the first consistency check (on the full 5-disk set). Everything green except for a small strip at the start of the blocks - here, hovering over a block gives the message that 356791 are OK, 8 failed. That's for sectors 0-720,895.

Before I continue, you said above that I should "Write down the parent sector numbers for that". Where would I find those?

I found that ReclaiMe didn't work, at least in the time I gave it - after running for a week, it hadn't recovered the parameters. I knew the disk order and block size anyway and the card manufacturer was eventually able to let me know the block order. That just left offset, which I assumed was '0', although looking on the forum here, I think I can work that out manually if needed. Is there any reason it wouldn't be zero? I was't sure about the 'number of rows' field though, so I've left that at the default 5.

Thanks
Ben

Alt
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Alt » Mon May 27, 2013 3:21 am

Most likely it's 0.

Ben01
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Mon May 27, 2013 5:26 am

OK, thanks.

What about the parent sector numbers and where we go from there? Can you also let me know about the 'numbers of rows' field.

Thanks
Ben

Alt
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Alt » Tue May 28, 2013 6:02 am

The parent sector numbers don't matter for the case, the numbers of rows is 5, as I understand.
Now it's time to create a virtual RAID 5 out of the images and start scanning it.

Ben01
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Tue May 28, 2013 6:57 am

Thanks - that's great.

I'll get back to you when I've done the scans.

Ben01
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Thu May 30, 2013 6:24 am

Hi Alt

I've created the virtual RAID and run scans with all five disks and the original 3. Neither the folder structure or any correctly named files are found, although there are various fragments with numeric names that show up.

I guess this hasn't worked or I've got something wrong with the configuration.

Are there any other obvious options or it it time to write this off, do you think?

Thanks
Ben

Alt
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Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Alt » Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:08 am

Strange that it didn't find anything like a folder structure (even a wrong one). Looks like some parameters like block size are wring.
I think, it's time to reconsider going to a data recovery pro. There's a rule: if a problem is easy to solve, you won't pay much, if it's hard to do, you won't solve it yourself.

Ben01
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Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 7:45 am

Re: RAID5 recovery when only the RAID volume is visible

Post by Ben01 » Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:24 am

Thanks Alt

I think you're right! The block size is definitely correct, so there must be something trickier going on.

Thanks for all your help.
Ben

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